Lesson Learned

So, as a sufferer of projectitis, I generally plow into a project, full steam ahead, without the proper planning. Or even without the proper knowledge necessary to successfully accomplish the project. This generally results untold hours of frustration, of re-working and oftentimes abandonment of projects altogether.
I mention this because today I decided to look through a book I have here on my bookshelf. The book is titled Embellished Bras: Basic Techniques. I've had it for quite some time ... a friend gave it to me when I mentioned I wanted to make my own covered bra for bellydancing. Well, the covered bra is now done, and done poorly. It's definitely wearable, and a casual viewer wouldn't notice that it is poorly constructed, and will probably last through only a couple performances. But anyone who looks at it from less than 5 feet away will know that it's just mangled. And I think back to how many times I had to re-do every part of the process. How many pieces of fabric I wasted because it wasn't working. Ugh. I feel like such an idiot, because now I flip through this book and it explains how to do EVERYTHING. It's perfectly illustrated, and explains every step of the process in a way that any novice sewer would find totally clear. But did I read this book before jumping in to my bra project? Oh heck no! That would require forethought!
Sigh.
I guess it just means I need to make another one!

As promised ... pictures

The covered bra is coming along ... after some talking with a friend, I realized that as usual, I'm agonizing over details that won't really matter. This is my normal M.O. to agonize over tiny details at the beginning of a project so that everything is "perfect" only to get sick of the project and then just whip it together sloppily at the end. So many things are ruined that way, as I lose patience. So this time, I'm trying really hard to have an eye for the details that matter, and work carefully without giving up at the end.

And, here's another project that Nitro's been working on the past couple weekends: he made a headache rack for my truck! Now, he NEVER has a problem with losing patience. He's probably the opposite of me in this respect. He can maintain a level of perfection throughout an entire project, and always works slowly and carefully until a thing is done, and it's always done well. I wish I could take some of that for myself. Ah well, I'll just take advantage of it by using the finished projects.

Dress forms and bras.

The other day I saw an ad on Craigslist for a dress form for $70 which sounded like a steal. The last one I saw was $80, and someone had told me that I should have bought it, no questions asked. But I hesitated and it was gone. So this time I didn't hesitate ... only it was gone by the time I called as well. Which is probably for the best since I really don't have $70 right now.
In the meantime I've been trying to make my own beaded bra for bellydancing, and it's been a huge challenge without having any sort of form to use while covering a store-bought bra. At first, I tried just stretching it over a chair back, but the cups wouldn't hold their shape. So I put some melons in the cups and my husband proceeded to tell me that I should "dream on." I gave up, basically.
But then I got motivated again and really made some progress and figured I could borrow a dress form from a friend. That's when I found out that she sold hers for $35 at a garage sale the previous weekend! That is JUST my luck. So typical. She said, "Well, I know you're broke and not looking to buy anything right now so I didn't even think of asking you if you wanted it." Whatever. She did have another one I could borrow, and it's now in my living room, wearing a bra.
And I'm still frustrated.
Getting the fabric to lay flat, to line up the stripes, to just pin the stuff on there is driving me nuts. I am starting to think that maybe I have ZERO hand-eye coordination, since I am finding this process excruciating.
On the other hand, I'm finding that the results are very nice, I'm happy with what has been accomplished thus far. There have been some mistakes that I think are covered up nicely, at least nicely enough that a casual viewer probably won't notice. And there have been some successes that mean NEXT TIME will go better.
Pics to come soon, I am sure.